The Wall opera coming to Montreal

2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the Montreal stadium concert that led Roger Waters to write what's arguably the band's most significant album, The Wall. He returned to the Olympic Stadium there to officially announce the rumored Another Brick in the Wall—The Opera, to be performed by Opéra de Montréal in March 2017. In an interview and video with the Montreal Gazette, Waters explains the album's background in the alienation from the audience that he felt at that show and talks more about the process of adapting the music to opera with the help of symphonic composer Julien Bilodeau. Some pre-sale tickets are on sale as of today; they can be purchased at Opéra de Montréal's site.

Syd Barrett play coming in Scotland

Scotland's The Herald reports on a play about Syd Barrett premiering in October in Glasgow. One Thinks of It All As a Dream, commissioned by the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival and written by Alan Bissett, will focus on "the influences and pressures on his mind and music" and not explicitly on his drug use, although it seems that would have to be a component of it. Still, it seems that Bissett hopes to examine Syd the person in more complexity and look beyond the famous (or infamous) "madcap" narrative, which should be interesting to any fan of early Floyd works.

"Amused to Death" 2015 edition out today

The updated 2015 edition of the excellent Roger Waters solo album from 1992, Amused to Death, has been released today. Aside from updated artwork, the CD/Blu-ray release also includes an updated 5.1 surround mix by longtime producer/engineer James Guthrie. As part of the release, an interesting series of videos of Roger discussing the album and each track have also been released.

New album, North America tour for David Gilmour

David Gilmour has announced a new album, Rattle That Lock, out September 18, a new single by the same name out July 17, and a small North American tour in the spring. Tickets for the concerts in Los Angeles, Toronto, Chicago, and New York City go on sale tomorrow at noon local on Ticketmaster's site; meanwhile, his official site has more information on the new material.

Tickets available for screenings of The Wall concert film

Tickets have gone on sale for US screenings of Roger Waters's The Wall concert film on September 29, including a post-film Q&A with Roger Waters and Nick Mason. This The Simple Facts session will feature questions submitted by fans, although it's currently unclear how the questions will be collected. The tickets are available at the Fathom Events site.

Ça Ira and the Nashville Symphony

On his official Facebook page, Roger Waters announced a concert performance of his opera, Ça Ira, premiering January 30. Waters himself will take part in the performance, making it an an exciting chance to see him for fans of his work with Pink Floyd or as a solo artist.

Pink Floyd, of course, has a long history with the venue, performing Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall there, and recording the live album and videoPulse there. That would all seem to make Gilmour a great person to close out Earls Court.

Dark Side reappears on the Billboard Top 200

The Dark Side of the Moon, easily one of the best rock albums of all time, has returned to the Billboard Top 200 charts at #13, marking its 889th week on that chart. It joins the band's curtain call, The Endless River, which released at #3 on the same chart and now sits at #33. Dark Side also holds the record for most consecutive weeks on that chart, an indicator of the band's lasting impact and popularity.

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The Endless River

As all of our readers no doubt know, The Endless River, which is essentially guaranteed to be the last studio release from Pink Floyd, has by now been released globally (and of course can be ordered at the link above or via the sidebar). As one would expect for a release from such an important and legendary band that until a few months ago seemed unthinkable, there's a ton of news out there.

Rolling Stone spoke to David Gilmour about why he thinks this is truly the end for Pink Floyd, what's on the horizon for him, and whether there was ever any real chance of Roger Waters appearing on the record.

Meanwhile, Nick Mason speculates to Billboard about the possibilities of more remixes/remasters (including Animals), additional unreleased material that might accompany such re-releases, and video coming up in support of The Endless River (not to mention years of archived video).